In the previous posting, I gave reasons why I feel fairly confident that Betsy Snyder, wife of Peter (b. c.1793) was a sister to the Lewis's who moved to Lordstown Twp., Trumbull County, Ohio in the 1820's and 30's. In this installment, I will hypothesize that Peter Snyder (b. 1820) was a nephew to the Peter Snyder (b. c.1793).

We are fortunate to have two accounts of the life of Peter Snyder (b. 1820), written based on information which he presumably provided himself. They are published in:

History of Allen County, Ohio. Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co., 1885. p. 587-88
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~besr/images/notes/1...
and

Portrait and Biographical Record of Allen and Van Wert Counties, Ohio. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896. p. 489-490.
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~besr/images/notes/1... (first page)
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~besr/images/notes/1... (second page)

Each account provides some different details of Peter's early life and although there are some minor discrepancies, they agree on the basic facts. Peter was the youngest of twelve children of Philip and Mary (Sharpsteen) Snyder, and was born in Livingston County, New York. Philip died in about 1824 when Peter was four years old. Although no date of death is given for his mother, she must have died after 1840 because the histories say she died at her son Lorenzo's home in Michigan, and as it will be shown, Lorenzo wasn't living there until about 1840. Peter probably lived with his mother or an older sibling (or both) until he was twelve or thirteen years old. At that time (about 1833), Peter moved to Trumbull County, Ohio where he stayed with his brother Lorenzo for about a year. This insinuates that his mother was not living in Trumbull Co. at that time. Why did he stop living with his brother? A likely reason is that Lorenzo and his wife Julian were moving to Bath Twp., Allen County, Ohio, where in 1835 they bought land in the southeast quarter of section 14.

This leaves the question of with whom Peter lived after Lorenzo left Trumbull Co. In these late 19th century biographies, the stalwart and independent pioneer subjects make their way on their own. However, the reality seems to be that they more often moved and lived with relatives: siblings, in-laws, uncles, etc. I feel that it is likely that Peter lived with an uncle, the Peter Snyder born c.1793 who was living in Lordstown, Trumbull County at the time. Although I have no direct evidence that Peter (b. c.1793) was an uncle to Peter (b.1820), it was common practice to name children after aunts and uncles at that time. When Peter (b.1820) was 18 or 19 years old, he moved to Bath Township. The obvious place for him to have lived at that time was with his brother, Lorenzo. However, Lorenzo and his wife Julian sold the north half of their land in Sep. 1838 (Deeds, Book F, p. 188, Allen Co., OH Recorder's office, 25 Sep 1838) and the south part in 1840. They are not listed in the Bath Township census for 1840, so presumably they had moved on by then. (Lorenzo Snyder, b. c.1809 is listed for Calhoun Co., MI in the 1850 census. This age would be appropriate for an older brother to Peter.) So if Peter lived with Lorenzo, it would not have been for long.

According to the histories, Peter "worked by the month"/"worked at any honest employment he could find" until he married Clarinda Edgecomb. The timing of this marriage is interesting because according to the history, he married her in 1839. However, according to the marriage records of Allen County, Allen County, Ohio Marriage Record No. 1 (1831-1842), p. 119:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~besr/images/notes/0...
they were married on 9 Apr 1840. The 1840 census record (no date given)
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~besr/census/1840-oh...
shows a 20-30 year old Peter Snyder living with a 15-20 year old female (Clarinda was 17 in 1840) and an under 5 male (their son Josiah's birth date in the family Bible is given as September 28, 1840.
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~besr/images/bible-s...
His age was given as 10 in the 1850 census which was taken on 19 July 1850.) In any case, the dates suggest that the marriage may have been sped up by a pregnancy. After their marriage, the biography says that "he then rented a farm of 160 acres". Where was this farm? Referring to the plat map:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~besr/images/1830s.g...
could it be Lorenzo's 160 acre farm in section 14? Probably not because it had already been divided and partially sold to someone else by 1838. My guess would be a part of Peter Snyder (b. c.1793)'s farm in section 11 - in particular the southwest quarter section. I suspect that Peter, who had been living with his uncle (Peter Snyder b. c.1793), was coming of age (about 18) and was given the opportunity by his uncle to move to Bath Township and begin clearing his uncle's land. He moves there in 1838-39 and ends up living a mile south of Uriah Edgecomb's farm. He begins seeing 16-17 year old Clarinda, she become pregnant and they get married in 1839. In 1849, he purchases what was known in 1885 as the "Hiram Prottsman farm". Where is this? Examination of the 1880 atlas of Bath Twp
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~besr/images/bath-tw...
and land transactions recorded in Lima show it to be a part of the elder Peter Snyder's 160 acres in section 11. So it is possible that Peter's purchase of a farm in 1849 does not represent a move, but rather represents Peter and Clarinda finally accumulating enough money to buy the farm on which they have been living since they were married.

So, what is the significance of this speculation? Aside from possibly filling in details of young Peter's (b. 1820) early life, it provides a link to a second line (the elder Peter, b. c.1793) to track backwards in an attempt to determine from where our Snyder line came. This will be the subject of my last posting in this series.

Steve Baskauf
Bassett-Edgecomb-Snyder Archives
http://besr.info